Valletta stayed four points clear of Hibs at the top of the Premier League after a 5-2 win over bottom side Marsaxlokk.

On Friday, the Paolites had temporarily narrowed the gap on Valletta to one point after beating Qormi 2-0 but, as expected, the champions met little trouble to secure victory 24 hours later.

Valletta’s task was made easier by the harsh dismissal of Marsaxlokk defender Modesto Valeriani for a dubious handball on the stroke of half-time.

Michael Mifsud, who scored from the resultant penalty, notched a hat-trick for the Citizens with the other goals coming from William Barbosa and a Steve Borg penalty.

Despite being down to 10 men, Marsaxlokk had the consolation of scoring twice against the Citizens.

Another controversial penalty, given by referee Esther Azzopardi for a clean challenge by Jonathan Caruana on Nemanja Stoskovic, enabled Trevor Templeman to pull one back for the Blues.

Templeman was on target again three minutes from time.

Hibs maintained their charge thanks to second-half goals from Andrew Cohen and Peter Anizoba.

This was another blow to Qormi’s hopes of making the top-six cut as the yellow-blacks are now four points behind sixth-placed Balzan.

Floriana suffered their first defeat in 10 matches after going down to the resurgent Mosta.

Obinna Obiefule struck Mosta’s winner at the death after Andre Grabowski had cancelled out the Nigerian’s first-half opener.

Birkirkara dispelled talk of crisis with a 4-0 rout of Balzan on Sunday.

Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza had a fine debut for Birkirkara as he set up Shola Haruna for the first goal and scored the second himself.

The Stripes, now fourth in the table, sealed the issue when Jorge put them 3-0 up 20 minutes from time and Michael Camilleri added a fourth in the closing stages.

Sliema Wanderers, dogged by injuries to key players and the second-half dismissal of Josef Mifsud, held firm to gain a point from their clash with strugglers Tarxien Rainbows.

Cleaven Frendo fired Sliema ahead from a calibrated free-kick after only four minutes but Tarxien equalised thanks to Karl Pulo on 32 minutes.

Mqabba piled up the pressure on the crisis-hit Ħamrun Spartans as late goals from Bojan Mamic and Ryan Sammut lifted the Reds on the 20-point mark, five ahead of their vanquished opponents.

Ħamrun’s fourth defeat in their last five matches led coach Jesmond Zammit to tender his re-signation after Sunday’s match.

Premier League statistics

Scorers, red cards

Balzan Youths: Pedrinho 6 (1 pen); Bright 5; Ciantar 4; Grima 2; Tasic, Camilleri, Farrugia, Forace, Bernardes.
Own goal: Camilleri (vs Ħamrun).
Red cards: Pedrinho (vs Qormi, vs Mqabba), Francica (vs Hibs; vs Sliema), Forace (vs Tarxien), Ciantar (vs Valletta.

Birkirkara: Avila Perez 9; Cilia 4 (3 pens); Grech 2, Pereira 2, Vella 2 (1 pen); Buhagiar, Zerafa, Muscat, Fenech, Haruna, Mifsud Triganza, Jorge, Camilleri.
Red cards: Decesare (vs Mosta), Grech (vs Qormi), Avila Perez, Bajada (vs Mosta), Decesare, Pereira (vs Hibs).

Floriana: Caruana 6, Grabowski 6; Woods 5 (2 pens); Micallef 3; Cassar 2, Mintoff 2; Odwong, Farrugia, J. Borg, Darmanin, Sodje, C. Borg.
Own goal: Everton (vs Tarxien).
Red cards: Amamoo (vs Sliema); Bartolo (vs Birkirkara), Akoto (vs Qormi).

Ħamrun Spartans: Ribeiro 6; Shields 5 (2 pens); Grima 4; Sammut 2; Luis Silva, Toneto Porcari, Agius, Polli, Calabretta.
Own goal: Bugeja (vs Floriana).
Red cards: Agius (vs Balzan), Polli (vs Birkirkara), Sammut (vs Balzan), Borg (vs Qormi).

Hibs: Edison 18 (1 pen); Failla 11 (1 pen); Cohen 5; Pisani 3, Anizoba 3; Caruana 2, Soares 2; Herrera, Dias, Lima.
Red cards: Pulis (vs Valletta), Dias (vs Birkirkara).

Marsaxlokk: Deanov 4; Farrugia 2, Lattes 2, Templeman 2 (1 pen); Kokavessis, Campagnoli.
Red cards: Templeman (vs Hibernians), Brincat (vs Qormi), Valeriani (vs Valletta).

Mosta: Obiefule 15 (10 with Marsa-xlokk); Zammit 4 (1 pen); Martin 3, Mvondo 3; Aboulezz, Arilson, Borg.
Own goal: Buhagiar (vs Birkirkara).
Red cards: Ossok (vs Hibs); Tisbi (vs Qormi), Martin (vs Tarxien).

Mqabba: Mamic 8 (1 pen); Mazzitelli 7 (1 pen); Azzopardi, Briffa, Potezica, Bonnici, Timotic, Nwoba, Muscat, Sammut.
Red cards: Mazzitelli (vs Marsaxlokk), Mamic (vs Hibs), Timotic (vs Hibs).

Qormi: Farrugia 9 (4 pens); Jorginho 8 (2 pens); Bello Osagie 5; Nwoke 4; Bartolo, Sciberras, Bondin.
Red cards: Duff (vs Birkirkara), Jorginho (vs Floriana).

Sliema: Mitev 8 (4 pens); Lima 4, Bajada 4; Jorge 3; Mifsud Triganza 2, Ani 2, Frendo 2; Scerri, Galabov, Fenech.
Red cards: Scerri (vs Hibs), Grech (vs Floriana), Mitev (vs Marsaxlokk; vs Balzan), Mifsud (vs Hibs, vs Tarxien), B. Muscat (vs Birkirkara).

Tarxien: Bueno 6 (1 pen), Ricardo 6 (1 pen); Anonam 2, Galvao 2, Carabott 2, Mayasi 2 (1 pen); Everton, Pulo.
Own goal: Pereira (vs Birkirkara).
Red cards: Anonam (vs Mosta), Costa (vs Balzan; vs Mosta), Suguino (vs Valletta).

Valletta: Denni 8, Effiong 8; Mifsud 7 (1 pen), Barbosa 7 (1 pen); Zongo 5; Borg 4 (1 pen); Pace 2, Briffa 2, G. Agius 2.
Red cards: G. Agius, Borg, Fenech (vs Hibs).

Next fixtures

Friday
Tedesco Stadium – 14.00 Mqabba vs Qormi; 16.15 Sliema Wanderers vs Ħamrun Spartans.

Saturday
Hibs Stadium – 14.00 Balzan Youths vs Floriana; 16.00 Hibs vs Mosta.

Sunday
National Stadium – 14.00 Marsaxlokk vs Tarxien Rainbows; 16.00 Birkirkara vs Valletta.

Standings

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Valletta	19	15	3	1	45	15	48
Hibernians	19	13	5	1	47	14	44
Floriana	19	12	3	4	31	16	39
Birkirkara	19	9	2	8	27	23	29
Sliema	19	6	10	3	28	22	28
Balzan	19	8	3	8	25	30	27
Qormi	19	7	2	10	29	32	23
Mqabba	19	5	5	9	23	30	20
Mosta	19	5	5	9	19	31	20
Tarxien	19	4	3	12	23	40	15
Ħamrun	19	4	3	12	23	46	15
Marsaxlokk	19	3	2	14	22	43	11